Finding An English School / Teacher For The Thai Other Half

[Jersey_UK]

Ok, usual story - Thai woman in Bangkok, Mr Farang in Farangland.....yadda yadda yadda

What I want to do is find a COMPETENT English School / teacher for her in Bangkok. Preferably somewhere an easy commute from where she lives, Klongtoy, Bangkok. Of course their are "English Schools" in her area, but she reckons that somewhere too local will not be suitable (it IS a sh#tty area!), cos she probably knows more English already than the teachers! - and me not knowing BKK too well (outside the usual (??!!) farang ghettos) kinda confuses things

I want somewhere that would be both worthwhile for her to attend AND she would be comfortable in, this is perhaps the tricky bit

Her spoken English is very good (as far as Thai's go who have not lived and worked abroad) and no problem with "shyness" when speaking (English..........or Thai ). Speaking wise she does have more than enough already to "learn on" by using spoken English day to day when she eventually makes it to Farangland, so a Teacher who is a native English speaker is not essential, and given the quality of ENglish tecahers (!) I have encountered in BKK over the years, perhaps best avoided!

She can read and write English, but appallingly badly - I would rate it like a 3 year old.......on crack It's all there, just helps to decipher into something that makes sense if you already know what she is banging on about. or are also on crack

Basically she needs somewhere that will help with her writing and can explain (preferably in Thai by a native Thai Speaker) about sentence construction in English, and all the "Rules" of English, which most folk who are native English speakers use, but cannot explain. Although, as I said, she can already read and write - I figure starting from scratch would be no bad thing.

The more clued up amongst you will already have made an informed guess at her background , although she is confident and well able to look after herself and doesn't put up with any cr#p, at 37 she would really not want to be sitting in a class of HISO (or wannabees) Thai 20 year old children. For no other reason than she may end up thumping one of them

Obviously cheap is good! - but if push comes to shove their IS a few quid in the pot, for no other reason than I figure it is far cheaper and easier to find a Native Thai teacher of English in BKK, than in Farangland!

Perhaps unsurprisingly she is not a Uni graduate!

Oh, comments about the "usual" Mr Farang / Thai woman stuff yadda, yadda, yadda would be preferred on another thread ...........the responses I am ideally looking for will include a name, address and contact details (and pref a Website) and an idea of cost.

I HAVE done a Search, but the phrase "English teacher" does seem to also cover soooooooooo much here!

[Ijustwannateach]

Why don't we give OP the benefit of the doubt and answer his question, folks.

Jersey: From a teacher's point of view- you can find a lot of group classes at various levels of quality and price around Bangkok. You should choose a school that uses a method that employs listening AND speaking. Obviously, the cheaper the school the more general the crowd. As a beginner groups are not so bad. I've never worked for the language schools here, so I don't know personally what to recommend- maybe try ECC? British Council will be more hi-so; AUA's methods (as I've heard them) sound a little strange.

In the long run, I'd recommend smaller groups and one-on-one, which will be more expensive. As a benchmark, if you locate a fairly experienced and decent private English teacher, he shouldn't be willing to teach her for less than 500B/hour on a weekday in daytime, and that's if he doesn't have to travel more than one BTS stop (i.e., 15-20min travel time) to meet her.

"Steven"

[Jersey_UK]

Did I miss something??

[Ijustwannateach]

Yup! Don't sweat it; got rid of an off-topic post for you.

[Jersey_UK]

Cheers

[Maigo6]

There must be some free lessons she can take somewhere, I know in Pattaya there used to be a school that was fee free, the teachers were women mainly from France and Belgium.

I personally would rather do that than pay some fool 500 per hour for working without a work permit to keep him in beer, plus the standard from the average EDUCATOR in Bkk is pretty poor.

Save your dough and get her some free lessons.

Forget about the Farang teachers, they are a Motley crew without scruples in general.

Edited September 24, 2006 by Maigo6

[otherstuff1957]

I agree with Steven about the 500/hour. Very few English teachers worth their salt will get out of bed for less than that.

Finding a Thai English teacher may be a bit of a problem. Relatively few Thais who speak English well are willing to work for 8,000-10,000 baht per month as teachers. Most of the Thais who speak English well will work for companies where they can earn 2x to 3x a teacher's salary. Most of the Thai English teachers have awful grammar, syntax and pronunciation. They are also usually clueless about idioms and common usage.

A Thai who as actually been overseas might be your best bet.

[Jersey_UK]

Save your dough and get her some free lessons.

Forget about the Farang teachers, they are a Motley crew without scruples in general.

I like free , but I do figure that you get what you pay for and I have no objections to paying the going rate for someone competent. I actually have no axe to grind with any "Motley crew without scruples" - I have met quite a few who were great company - just that I share your reservations about throwing money behind a bar I also figure that when learning the rules of something complex (like English) that it would be helpful to be able to speak to a Native Thai so she could ask questions (no shyness problems for her), although I have never been am English teacher I do struggle to understand how someone who can't speak the language of their pupils (and obviously vice verce!) can do little more than point at words and pictures. I would struggle to explain what a pronoun (etc) is to an English person in English, no idea how I could do this to a foreigner??? (I am no doubt being a bit unfair here, but I hope folk get my drift).

It did occur to me to try and find some wimins NGO in Thailand that likes to "save the fallen" etc by teaching English for free, that is a game the Missus is well able to "play", but I figure she doesn't need to anymore - BUT I have no fundamental objections to dealing with these peeps or even putting my hand in my pocket so she doesn't HAVE to always nod along with their agenda. Might be an eye opener for the NGO to deal with one of the "fallen" , who is not afraid to explain how the world actually works and likes to call "a spade a spade"..........but I am going well off topic here!

But cheers for the advice.

[Jersey_UK]

I agree with Steven about the 500/hour. Very few English teachers worth their salt will get out of bed for less than that.

Finding a Thai English teacher may be a bit of a problem. Relatively few Thais who speak English well are willing to work for 8,000-10,000 baht per month as teachers. Most of the Thais who speak English well will work for companies where they can earn 2x to 3x a teacher's salary. Most of the Thai English teachers have awful grammar, syntax and pronunciation. They are also usually clueless about idioms and common usage.

A Thai who as actually been overseas might be your best bet.

Thanks for the advice, I can understand why the Thais who speak English would use this to do something more profitable than teaching, after all" those who can" etc , especially as I am quite well aware of the 2 tier system when it comes to Thai / Farang English teachers.

Since my OP, I have done a bit more Googling, I dug up a list of English Schools and I have pretty much decided that King's College of English (Thailand) seem as good as any, and appearing to be more than a one man band will hopefully have the skills in depth (and a few native Thais??) to help. But I admit that this is a bit of a punt in the dark as to whether this ticks all my / our boxes, unless anyone can say anything about them??

BTW I have at the moment discounted ECC, Nice Website - but next to zero mention of what they give to students of English, all seems to be about teaching Farang to teach English, with the students being just part of this - which is nice, but not exactly what I am after (I will concede that I have probably got the wrong end of the stick here!).

Anyway, I will get the Missus to wander around and see what she thinks, and will report back for the benefit of others.

[dog412]

I agree with Steven about the 500/hour. Very few English teachers worth their salt will get out of bed for less than that.

Finding a Thai English teacher may be a bit of a problem. Relatively few Thais who speak English well are willing to work for 8,000-10,000 baht per month as teachers. Most of the Thais who speak English well will work for companies where they can earn 2x to 3x a teacher's salary. Most of the Thai English teachers have awful grammar, syntax and pronunciation. They are also usually clueless about idioms and common usage.

A Thai who as actually been overseas might be your best bet.

Thanks for the advice, I can understand why the Thais who speak English would use this to do something more profitable than teaching, after all" those who can" etc , especially as I am quite well aware of the 2 tier system when it comes to Thai / Farang English teachers.

Since my OP, I have done a bit more Googling, I dug up a list of English Schools and I have pretty much decided that King's College of English (Thailand) seem as good as any, and appearing to be more than a one man band will hopefully have the skills in depth (and a few native Thais??) to help. But I admit that this is a bit of a punt in the dark as to whether this ticks all my / our boxes, unless anyone can say anything about them??

BTW I have at the moment discounted ECC, Nice Website - but next to zero mention of what they give to students of English, all seems to be about teaching Farang to teach English, with the students being just part of this - which is nice, but not exactly what I am after (I will concede that I have probably got the wrong end of the stick here!).

Anyway, I will get the Missus to wander around and see what she thinks, and will report back for the benefit of others.

having called the school, the cost of the "adult beginner" first module of 30 hrs. is 6250 baht, which seems reasonable to me.

[Jersey_UK]

Bl##dy hel_l!, cheers dude!

Price is in the ball park from what I have seen elsewhere. I will send her around to have a looksee for herself.

[thaigene2]

Seriously though I agree - and am pretty sick of the flamers too. Further to Jersey's question, I'd say you may want to explore the British Council. They have classes, the teachers are supposed to be pretty good. Class size may be bigger than Ijustwannteach recommends. Recall it was a bit expensive too. She'd have to travel over to Siam/MBK area - their office is in Chulalongkorn Uni.

If I may expand the question too: Is there a 'league table' of good bilingual schools for kids years 1 through 12? Or can anyone recommend good ones in Phayathai, Pahonyothin, Dusit area? I'm already aware of Bangkok Bilingual School and Lad Prao but they are too far away in Moo Bahn Land. Can't afford the Int'l schools. Thanks in advance..TG2

[edited by IJWT]

[Jersey_UK]

Just to say that the Missus is now getting signed up at the Kings College English School in Bangkok (they have 3 Branches). She went for a chat and seems happy enough with the place. (like either of us actually knows what a "good" English school looks like!), but, still, they seem to have started well by treating her as a "customer" which is a good start, plus also meant to be approx 10 to a Class of adults (which sounds fair enough), but for her most importantly apparently includes those "wimin" who are also getting their English together for a voyage to Farangland.

6,350B for 30 hours over a month.

600B "for a book" (books??).

350B for an exam / test to start with to see what she knows / doesn't know.

All in around £100??, fair enough in my book (and of course a lot cheaper than doing the same back home!) - will keep her busy for a month and she will hopefully also learn some more English!

Will report back on this thread how she finds the experiance at this place for the benefit of anyone doing a search (does anyone else really DO a search???!!!), if it goes well will see if she wants to sign up for another month and then maybe afterwards some 1 to 1. Apparently for 1 to 1 they are quoting 14,000B for 60 hours (does this sound about right??)

Unfortunately she doesn't get to wear a uniform. Even if I pay extra

[dressedingreen]

The important thing really is she is taught by someone who has undergone training in teaching English as a foreign language. ECC, for example, teaches the Cambridge University CELTA course, which is a good grounding for TEFL. They offer good rates for students to come in to learn English because the teachers are still learning. But they are supervised by very experienced teachers. There are sound techniques for teaching a language to someone who doesn't understand any of the language to start with, and the teacher doesn't speak the student's language. Grammar starts to come in at the intermediate stage, when the student has a grip of the basic language. So schools like ECC can be a good and cheap alternative to paying full going rate. Using Thai English speakers will only leave her with all the nits Thais bring to the language (the confusion of 'r' and 'l', failure to finish words, little grasp of tenses etc).

I hope what you've chosen works for you.

DIG

[JacknDanny]

Seriously though I agree - and am pretty sick of the flamers too. Further to Jersey's question, I'd say you may want to explore the British Council. They have classes, the teachers are supposed to be pretty good. Class size may be bigger than Ijustwannteach recommends. Recall it was a bit expensive too. She'd have to travel over to Siam/MBK area - their office is in Chulalongkorn Uni.

If I may expand the question too: Is there a 'league table' of good bilingual schools for kids years 1 through 12? Or can anyone recommend good ones in Phayathai, Pahonyothin, Dusit area? I'm already aware of Bangkok Bilingual School and Lad Prao but they are too far away in Moo Bahn Land. Can't afford the Int'l schools. Thanks in advance..TG2

[edited by IJWT]

Depends on your budget.

My 5 yr old goes to Rasami International school which is close to Victory Monument which is around 77K per term, cheaper than the bigger Internationals.

There is also a Bi Lingual school on Phaholyothin Soi 8 which caters for babies upto 5/6 years old called Plengprassidigh Sailom around 56k per term each term being 6 months

[Jersey_UK]

The important thing really is she is taught by someone who has undergone training in teaching English as a foreign language.

Agree with you here, someone trained is what is needed. She tells me that the teacher at Kings College will be a Farang who apparently also speaks some Thai, of course how true this (and the other stuff I have already mentioned) actually proves to be is perhaps another question - the reason why she is only signing (and paying) for a month - just to see how it goes for her. I haven't ruled out ECC completely, just as I said before, seems to me more geared to Teaching the teachers. Money (within reason!) is not the deciding factor, but cheaper is always good!

The "plan" is for us to (finally!!!) get married around Xmas (probably in Jan) and then do the Visa stuff, so we are (hopefully!) only looking at perhaps 3 months or so - should have got her going to school earlier but she was working part time up to March / April and afterwards I couldn't 100% guarantee to keep her in School (in fact there was a time over the summer when I really couldn't guarantee paying for anything, at home or in Thailand! - a lesson for others is perhaps not to go self employed whilst trying to plan and fund a marriage in Thailand and a Visa application! (the boat was perhaps also not the brightest of ideas timing wise also ) - cashflow REALLY is king especially on a start up, but I am digressing!!)

I have of course tried to help her over the years on the English front, but of course their is no real need for her to read and write English when in the LOS, so progress has been pretty minimal. I am not expecting her to end up reading and writing like an English Native (!!), but I hope she gets a good grounding in the theory so she has a good basis to learn on, so things will start to "click", when she gets here and uses English day to day (Will probably send her off to an English School here for a few months, as well as get her a part time "muppet" job so she can learn in practice and make some pocket money whilst she does so).

I guess my only real "success" on the English teaching front is to enhance her proficiency with the "F" word , which did once actually help her get a job. As I am sure you know, in Thailand you sometimes just can't make up a story more bizarre than the truth!

Anyway, cheers for the Feedback, hopefully this thread will grow into something useful for others?

[Neeranam]

The important thing really is she is taught by someone who has undergone training in teaching English as a foreign language. ECC, for example, teaches the Cambridge University CELTA course, which is a good grounding for TEFL. They offer good rates for students to come in to learn English because the teachers are still learning. But they are supervised by very experienced teachers. There are sound techniques for teaching a language to someone who doesn't understand any of the language to start with, and the teacher doesn't speak the student's language. Grammar starts to come in at the intermediate stage, when the student has a grip of the basic language. So schools like ECC can be a good and cheap alternative to paying full going rate. Using Thai English speakers will only leave her with all the nits Thais bring to the language (the confusion of 'r' and 'l', failure to finish words, little grasp of tenses etc).

I hope what you've chosen works for you.

DIG

Not strictly true. I got an English mate, who speaks fluent Thai to teach my wife. She couldn't speak a word of English when we got married and he helped a lot, although I hate the English accent. She then went to ECC Siam Square for one course and loved it. A Burmese guy taught her, which I think is better for teaching grammar. Coming from outside Bkk, and not knowing anyone, it was great for her meeting new friends. She was only 24 then. I think that King's College is a good choice, although some teachers are good and some terrible - it a hit or a miss. I know because I taught in Bangkok for 10 years.

I did the first ever TEFL that ECC did, back in 95 and it was a complete waste of time, in itself as I'd already had experience. Experience makes a good English teacher, not qualifications.

When she gets to England, she'll pick it up in no time - learning by immersion is by far the best way.

Good Luck